Hooked on collage?

Time to paint the porch which has always been original bricks. But now that the house is painted, demanded a makeover too! 

An inexpensive set of hooks has been used for children's coats, but I couldn't bring myself to put it back on the wall without a makeover of its own, so I covered it in cute paper. 

A wash of gold guache adds a special something and looks aged. 

The edges of the paper have been sanded. Difficult to photograph but looks superb! Try it next time to are altering furnature and so on ...

The plated hooks are gently worn from use but that's fine for my purposes and I screw them all back on with glee!

Finally back on the wall! Hooks that make me happy and suit all the little coats that get hung here ...

I like lady birds!

I like lady birds so much I decided to add one to the house using some of the red paint already used ....

I sketched it out and rubbed the painting area with ESP or easy surface preparer which I've used for years on various projects ...

After that had dried and with the sun away from the front of the house I applied black paint that is also in use on our home ....

From below it really looked like Banksy had slapped a quick stencil on my wall!

Then I was brave one last time as I took an old, small brush to colour in the lady bird. 

Yay did it! What do you think? 

The front of the house is nearly complete!

House work ...

Here is my humble home, who's tired walls and chimney let in a lot of that horizontal rain this past winter ...

Here is mike doing some pointing! We knew that the chimney was badly in need of repointing and we found that it also needed repairs to the flashing. The other chimney had some attention when Mary was a baby. 

Over one or two very soggy says my bedroom wall ran with water and I'm left with some beautiful staining!

The scaffolding provided access to the whole side of the house. More issues were found which may well be the reason of damp in the corner of my room. 

As grey clouds approach again, the ground-out chimney was plastic wrapped to prevent more water damage until drier days again!

Opting to paint after the repointing, the house began to change colour. It's called Birch, and is a gentle shade of grey green , sympathetic to the stone clad buildings that also share our cul-de-sac. No magnolia or cream for me!

The red painted parts have also been reniewed too. 

Now the scaffolding tower is in place for me to create a special something on the front of the house! Any guesses? I'll share that with you soon!

Knick-Knacks added in!

Wow - some new knick-knacks and some old ones, some I have not seen since I moved house prior to having baby twins! I used to collect pigs and one time, now I just collect things I really like! The champagne bubbles from 2003 still work - a good vintage then!



Some slightly bigger items fit into the glass fronted cabinet ... I had fun playing music and slotting in the little memories here and there!



and some in this ex spice-rack, for I need a knick-knack-rack more than a spice-rack! A joke in there somewhere!

Flooring ...

Broken and uneven, the entrance to my living room floor was getting pretty crunchy underfoot! So I bought a tub of Evostick, and set about repairs, all by myself this time!



having removed all the broken ones, and hoovered away all the loose dust and dirt ...



...I am faced with a somewhat boring and delicate Jig-saw puzzle!

DIY - time for knick-knacks!

It was time to get things up on the wall ... like this lovely printers tray which i bought off ebay, and then cleaned and oiled, and it is now on the dining room wall.



I am really pleased with this make-over, remember is looked like this! I used a little sandpaper to get the gentle ageing effect on the edges! This is in the hall, just below the old door bell ringer.



And from orange pine, to serene aqua, this one will go up in the downstairs cloakroom soon!

Today i got paint on me ....

House Work - the Window!

My Downstairs toilet was put in 2 years ago, into a generously sized cloakroom by the front door. The window looks onto the back garden, and I covered it with a piece of printed net, worked well if you didn't put the light on, of course! So I got busy with some soapy water, a squeegee and some window film. I am pretty pleased with this!

House Work Again!

and the cat was ready to roll!



and the ceiling was sealed!



Meanwhile, in the Garden, after the rain had gone ...